What are those Devo hats?

Specific materials used in creating "The Game" college hats during the mid 90's

• In the mid 90's, a hat company named "The Game" produced a line of college hats known for their unbelievable fit and circular logo design. For some unknown reason, they stopped making these hats with this specific soft cottony material and replaced it with harder synthetic material that proved impossible to break in (even the netting inside the hats is now made out of solid, sharp platic straws when once it was made out of a much softer cotton/straw material). They also made their famous "bar" hats out of this same soft material. A distinguishing feature of all of these hats was "The Game" logo glued onto the back left corner of the hat to the left of the plastic adjustable strap. It was a small square of white fabric smaller than a postage stamp and they always fell off after a few weeks of wearing it. The beauty of these hats was that after a week or so of wearing them, they formed to your head perfectly and they had every random college team you could think of. They also made them in colors, not just white. They had black Iowa Hawkeyes hat, red Iowa State Cyclones hats, blue Kentucky Wildcats hats, green Hawaii Rainbows hats, etc. Now, I still see these circle and bar hats around today but like I said, they are now made with a super-hard synthetic material that just doesn't break in worth a damn. In fact, here is a picture of one of the circle hats that they are producing today: http://www.collegegear.com/sf/stores/product_images/81961.jpg Here's another example: http://www.gatorshop.com/img/productImages/04-197.jpg And an example of the colored bar hats: http://www.navygear.com/images/USMC%20bar%20hat.jpg I'm not sure why they switched materials since this was the difference between them making an amazing hat and a hat that I'd never buy as long as I live ... but my guess is that it was much cheaper that way so they changed their winning formula in for a crap one. To this day, I still hunt flea markets, fairs and old sporting goods stores for possible backproduct that has been forgotten about in the back room for 10+ years. I have looked everywhere for some contact information for this company, The Game, but I haven't been able to find anything online. It seems they don't exist on the Internet but I know they are still making hats because they are everywhere. What I want to know is this: What was the EXACT TYPE of cottony material that was used to make these circle/bar collegiate hats made by "The Game" in the early to mid-90's? I need to know the exact mixture of fibers that they used in production so that it can be recreated. Now, I truly need to get this exact material type or else my question will not sufficiently be answered. I'm guessing that only a former or current employee of the The Game with access to those type of past records would know this information. It is my serious ambition to start my own hat company basing it on the old circle game hats, using my own original designs of course but making the hats from this exact same soft, form-fitting, lightweight cottony material that they used to use. Without this material, I have nothing worth producing. I will also say that I haven't seen this material used in any other hat in my entire life and as you can tell, I'm a hat enthusiast. Here's a great hint that might help with my inquiry: I used to buy all of my hats from a store called "Pennant Fever" that was in the Natick Mall in Natick, Massachusetts. They had a whole wall of these hats for years and then one day, they were all gone. I know this sounds a bit strage and I appreciate that fact as I'm rereading what I've just written. However, I'm just a guy who's pissed that they just don't make things like they used to ... and I'm only 25! I just really want to bring it back and show people what real college hats are. I look very forward to your reply, thanks for your time. Nik Outchcunis

• Answer:

  Greetings outchy, I was able to track down the company's website: http://www.2thegame.com/ I talked to an employee that worked there around the time you are interested in. She told me that there were different companies that made the hats and that it has changed over time. She talked to me for a while about the different changes in the company and materials used. She seemed certain that the bar hats made at that time used a 65%/35% Poly Cotton blend. Now, the exact hats that you purchased may have been made from different materials as, like I said the company changed hands and different hat manufacturers were used at different times. The hat you purchased may have been bought by the distributor back in the 80's and might have been sitting on the shelf for six years before you bought it. The employee told me that you should be able to get the exact material blend by looking on a tag that should be attached inside the hat. She says that it is law that such tags be on the hat. She did also note that back in the mid 90's she thought some hats may have not had tags like this in them. I hope you have found my answer satisfactory. If you require further clarification, please let me know. Thank you for the interesting research opportunity! Sincerely, Thinkout